A Glass Perfectly Engineered for IPAs

Beer is made by way of science. So it makes sense that a beer's vessel should be constructed through science, too. And it makes perfect sense that the top craft pale-ale seller in the nation Sierra Nevada, and cultish extreme-beer fiends Dogfish Head — two companies that have gone to great lengths to make science improve their brews — collaborated with German glassmakers Spiegelau to engineer a glass specifically for the drinking of IPAs.

After testing out dozens of iterations, the craft breweries' respective materminds, Ken Grossman and Sam Calagione, landed on the design above. The composition helps with three things: The thinness keeps the beer cold. The ridges on the bottom aerate the liquid and reinforce the robust head (which traps the carbonation). And as opposed to scent-catapulting normal pint glasses, the aromas are captured by the concave, snifter-like top, which Calagione calls in the video below an "olfactory cannon" aimed at your nose.

They don't ship till May, but an apparent beer-hater at the Times already advocated on their behalf: "If you actually like beer, it must be even better" — that is, even better than "startling." A pair runs at about $25. So we'll see you come springtime, with one of these, and a Torpedo, and a 90 Minute, too.

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